The present inventions are related to systems and methods for storing and accessing data to/from a storage medium.
A typical storage device includes a magnetic storage medium storing information that is magnetically represented on the storage medium. A head is disposed in relation to the storage medium that senses the magnetically represented information and provides an electrical signal corresponding to the magnetically represented information. This electrical signal is ultimately passed to a data detection circuit that performs one or more data detection processes in order to recover the information originally written to the storage medium. The information maintained on the storage medium typically includes both user data and synchronization data. The user data may be considered a random pattern, while the synchronization data is generally a defined pattern that may be used to synchronize to the phase of the data on the storage medium, and to set an appropriate gain to be applied to data retrieved from the storage medium. Data transfer systems often use a similar approach of transferring data that transfers what may be considered random regions of user data interspersed with synchronization data. Again, the synchronization data is generally a defined pattern that may be used to synchronize to the phase of the data on the storage medium, and to set an appropriate gain to be applied to data retrieved from the storage medium. It is common to utilize phase lock loops to synchronize to the synchronization data. Such an approach is generally effective, but can require a pattern of substantial length to properly process. Such pattern length wastes space on a storage medium and/or reduces transmission bandwidth.
Hence, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for advanced systems and methods for data processing.